Update: Thursday, February 14, 2013

Week One (and a bit)

2/14/2013

Just over a week has passed since the old version closed, and it has been a very intense week for us. With so many more now roaming the new world, several things have become clearer this week.

We first of all want to send a big thank you for hanging in there through the process and the changes. And on that path, here is a collected list of recent changes made. We hope you like them, and that you’ll stick around to see what more is coming!

Item trade for everyone

Everyone can now trade & give items to each other. This was originally VIP only in the new version, but has now been changed back to being open to everyone. 

Next <> Previous on Show Details page
Once again, you can move between shows directly on the details page for them. This is available both on the upcoming shows for an artist, and also on the upcoming shows for a club.

More Booking Management for Club owners
Club owners can now change ticket price, rider etc. directly on the show details page of the artist.
In addition, the columns of the upcoming shows list of the club are now sortable, meaning you can quickly sort on for example ticket price to find new bookings.

University finder (VIP)
The University Finder is back! You can find it on the Help page, in the Tools section.

Locale Management
There are things to be improved here, and one of them is out. Since a couple of days, you have a new view when looking at your company, called Employments. There, you see all the locales in the company listed, along with how many employees and open positions they have respectively. For any club chain owner or treasurer, this one might save a bunch of torn hairs.

Success rate of Skills
In the old version of the game you had very (freakishly) high chance of succeeding at for example making horoscopes, even if you weren’t very skilled at it. The success rate in the new version was made to better reflect your skill, but as it used to be so much easier this has meant a big drop for many. We have made it a little bit more forgiving again (although not back to the previous levels), and will keep watching to find the right balance.

What else....? There are a few other things too, but that is enough for one CN. Go test and hope you enjoy!

Update: Sunday, February 10, 2013

Community Checkup
2/10/2013

Sssshh... don’t tell anyone I’m here. You see, I’m not entirely sure I’m allowed to do this, but I decided to hijack the spotlight for a minute just to see how you’re all doing? What with the old version being closed and all, I mean.

Is it a relief to not have shows and people split over two different versions anymore, or are you spending most your time feeling as lost as when you were 16 and just stepped out of your mom’s garage for the first time?

If the latter is the case, you might like to know that all three Developers have ears wide open right now (I even saw Jonas try to tape an ear trumpet to his head, I swear..), and that the coming weeks will have full priority on adding what is missing, and to make things smoother and easier to use.

Meanwhile, if you have any big concerns, questions etc, do come by one of the Community Centre threads! There is one each in the English, Spanish, Portuguese, Turkish and Italian General forums. I will try to scoot around the other forums as much as I can too, but those threads are where I am certain to be found.

Yipes. I better take off. I think I hear them coming!

/Tonya Cullen
(a.k.a. your currently slightly manic Community Manager)

Update: Wednesday, February 06, 2013

Importing relationships revisited
2/6/2013

As of half an hour back or so, importing relationships from the old version now imports the other side of the relationship, i.e the one you've been working on while interacting. This should hopefully remove some of the confusion and frustration you've been feeling.

As for all other urgent matters, we are attacking them one by one, one at a time (well, three at a time to be precise). Please be as patient as you can.

Update: Tuesday, February 05, 2013

What? Already?
2/5/2013

We've now taken the old version of Popmundo offline to see if the servers can handle everyone playing the new version only. If you run into an essential core game problem please report it as a bug and we'll try to take care of it as soon as possible. If you have any questions regarding missing features or similar please take a look at the help section and you might find an answer there. You can also visit the forums and partake in the discussions going on about the new version. Don't forget to visit your account details and character settings pages to select the settings which suit you the best. This is especially important for anyone who wants to reduce the number of confirmations and clicks when playing the game or those who want to play using the retro skin. Thanks for reading!

Update: Thursday, January 31, 2013

Developer News   2013-01-31

Brave New World Nearly all of the features from the old version have been implemented in the new version now. At this point, having the old version running alongside the new one is slowing down the continued development of the game. Therefore, early next week we will close down the old version of Popmundo that so many of us know and love. If you have any pressing matters to take care of there which you can't do in the new version we urge you to do so now before it's too late. There are a few things which have yet to make it to the new version, most of these are minor like photo albums & plastic surgery. But there are also a couple of big ones which will make a return to the game when they are ready for the new version. The most obvious ones being crime, the supreme court, competitions, and It's Pop. Criminal features, similar to the ones we've always had, will be added to the new version, but slightly altered to protect the core game better. In the future these will become part of a new and much more advanced crime game within the Popmundo Universe. Before these missing things are properly implemented however, we will focus on making the core game run smoother for everyone and especially for newbies. We will also see some needed changes to the dynamics of some parts of the core game like songs, star quality snuggles, shows etc. The political arena and the effects of zones, polution, day workers etc will also be focused on in the months to come. There is also work to be done to simplify the navigation of the game and reduce the number of clicks in important areas like companies and clubs especially. We're also still missing a proper default skin which isn't all... dull and grey. However, we do hope some of you will enjoy the retro skin that's available if you check out your account settings. We like to think of it as our security blanket for anyone troubled by this new chapter in Popmundo history. Other new stuff we've added this week is item trade for everyone, not just the VIP, artist marketing, and the possibility to move contracts between record studios that you own yourself. There won't only be tweaks and fixes in the near future though. There's also some time reserved for some brand new things which we've been tinkering on forever. A Hall of Fame and a new type of locale or two... but we won't spoil any surprises now. See you on the flip side!

Update: Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Developer News   2013-01-30

Exquisite Sex Criminals Exquisite Sex Criminals put the X in the Tenth Popmundo Festival by playing the best show ever in Popmundo history! Valkyrie came second, and Northern Influence third. We congratulate these worthy winners on scoring a whopping 2-3 levels higher than a regular God Smackingly Glorious show. Thanks to all other contenders who also put on stellar performances to make the Tenth Popmundo Festival such a memorable event. We wish you all a speedy recovery after your intense touring schedules, back stage parties, and excessively loving groupies. Thanks for playing!

Update: Friday, January 25, 2013

Developer News   2013-01-25

Let the Games Begin The start of the Tenth Popmundo Festival is only hours away. Le Petit Cafard is the first band to step up on the stage in Chicago to show the world who's boss. We wish them, and all the other 49 contestants, the best of luck as they get ready to play the best shows Popmundo has ever seen. May the best band win!

Update: Saturday, January 19, 2013

Developer News   2013-01-19

Festival Qualifier Update! The God Smackingly Glorious qualification round of the Tenth Popmundo Festival is over. Congratulations to the 50 artists who made it to the final! The final will start on the 25th of January and end on the 29th. Contestants in the final will compete in order based on the results of their qualifying show, beginning with those who scored the lowest first. The invitations to the final will be handed out tomorrow at the latest, as soon as we've double checked all the artist lineups for last minute changes. Have a great weekend and thanks for playing everyone!

Update: Friday, January 18, 2013

Developer News   2013-01-18

Stalkers and skinners First of all, the following system (VIP only feature) is in place in Popmundo 2.0 since about two days ago. Most of you have probably discovered this already, but if not, it's accessible from your relationship details page with a person. Just make sure to be in the same locale as the person you wish to follow. Second, we've begun the rather mighty work of designing a proper default skin (it probably won't change that much from what we have today, though), and - possibly - a second one to choose from. Those of you who've made custom modifications to the current V2 skin should therefore take a happy pill and expect things (CSS, file locations etc) to change during the coming weeks. Have a great weekend, y'all!

Update: Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Developer News   2013-01-16

The Tenth Popmundo Festival! With the ghost of Melvin safely trapped, the qualifying round of the Tenth Popmundo Festival kicked off in Shanghai this morning. We wish all the contestants good luck and look forward to seeing which artists make it through to the final. May the best act win!

Update: Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Developer News   2013-01-15

Ghost Hunter Charts We normally don't normally post news regarding minor implementations such as a new chart, but we figured we'd make an exception today. On the Ghost Hunters chart you can see who's busted ghosts the most, who's fighting the good fight, and who's not. Who captured the soul of Melvin? Go check out the chart for yourself, it's only a clickfest away.

Developer News   2013-01-14

The Dangers of Proton Packs Firing your proton pack on another person who's also carrying a proton pack is NOT recommended. An accidental crossing of particle streams would be catastrophic! Anyone attacked in this manner will immediately stop using their own proton pack for a while in an effort to avoid disaster.

Update: Friday, January 11, 2012

Developer News   2013-01-11

What's new under the sun? You might get the feeling that we've only been focusing on designing proton packs and handing out silver coins lately. We have, however, also been busy redesigning the more important parts of the user interface, mainly the artist andcharacter menus and their respective first pages. Some stuff has been moved around , some stuff has been scrapped, and some things has been added. We're hopeful that you'll find it more logical to use. Be aware that we do not consider this work fully done yet. Expect more changes. We've noticed that many of you aren't fully aware of the customization options that are available, both for individual characters and for your user account. Have a look below for some more intel on that. It might just make your Popmundo experience a bit more pleasant. PS. Refresh your browser cache, otherwise stuff might look icky! Since the start of the new version, some very wished for settings and options have been implemented, for example regarding confirmations, relationships and default way to travel within a city. Make sure you have yours set the way you want them, because these babies can save you a lot of time and grief. User settings In your shortcut bar up top, you find "Account Details". These are valid for your entire account, and in other words across all your characters, if you have several. Settings you can do here include (for example) which notifications you'd like to see, if you want to see percentages written out on bars, and how often you would like to have confirmations pop up. Character settings & permissions (Found in the Extras menu of your character) These settings mainly allows you to control how others interact with you. Can anyone give you items, sex you up, send you messages, and use items on you? Or would you like either of those to be unique for friends only, or maybe locked for all? You'll also find characters you've blocked here. If you are VIP, you can make special exceptions to each of these settings, per character in your adress book. Character personality & behaviour (Found in the Career & Activity menu of your character) These settings include your attitude and default ways to travel within a city (meaning you don't have to choose each time you move), along with the settings surrounding how you behave on tour.

Update: Thursday, January 10, 2013

Developer News   2013-01-10

Who You Gonna Call? Legend has it, that on the day when the boundary between life and death is blurred, the silver coins will pay for passage over the river Styx. Anyone, anywhere, can pay the ferryman. Trapped within the deepest circles of Hades the evil one waits to be released into the world again. Will you trap it down in the abyss, or will you help it return to the land of the living? Bring your boomsticks, chainsaws, amulets, and anything else you can use to fight the undead... or come along to foil the efforts of Kobe. The fate of the world lies in your hands.

Update: Wednesday January 09, 2013

Developer News   2013-01-09

A note on importing relationships from V1 If you use the option "import all relationships" when you import relationships from Popmundo V1 to V2, any relationships that exists in both versions will beoverwritten with the values from V1. If you have important relationships that are higher in version 2 than version 1, you should use the "only import missing relationships" option instead.

Update: Friday, January 04, 2013

Developer News   2013-01-04

Important Relationship Reminder Almost everything in the game is now using the Popmundo 2.0 relationship system. But we've decided to wait a week until we let the shows be influenced by V2-relationships only. This means you've got a week to import, or interact, to get your relationships in order before your shows are affected. Thanks for listening and enjoy your weekend!

Update: Tuesday, January 02, 2013

Developer News   2013-01-02

14, 13, 12, 11 days... ...and soon, it will be no more than shivering seconds left until the 10th Popmundo Festival kicks off it’s qualifying stage. As this is published, 1072 bands are signed up, which means that no more than 8 slots are still up for grabs. So you better hurry up if you want to become that infamous last second sign-up that blew everyone else out of the water and ultimately landed the prize. Hair flowing in the wind and riding off into the sunset with... Oh. Sorry. It’s easy to get carried away. Along with the Festival comes side-events, festivities, merchandise and all manners of things, so even if you’re not competing, make sure to check those out. To make it easier for you find there’s a gathering point in the forum: message 2120080.1.

Update: Thursday, January 03, 2013

Developer News   2013-01-03

Relationships We've begun the pretty gruesome work of making the game use V2-relationships only, instead of a mix of V1- and V2-relationships, when it's making relationship based decisions. This will take a few days, and many of you won't notice anything at all. However, if you still mainly stick with V1, make sure all your important relationships exist in V2 as well.